Kish Gas Startup Claims Half-Baked

Iran says production at its giant Kish gas field in the Strait of Hormuz could begin as soon as next March. But a lack of infrastructure means any early volumes will be largely symbolic and that commercial production remains years off.

As the West continues to tighten the ‘sanctions screw’ on Iran, investment in its key oil sector has been hit, resulting in the cancellation of numerous projects by both foreign and domestic companies, and delays to projects currently underway. Yet, though this is a scenario that has played out in many projects across Iran over the past few years, development of Kish gas, according to Iran, is on schedule.

“Early production” at Iran’s huge Kish gas field is expected to begin before the end of the current Iranian year (21 March 2013 – 20 March 2014), the semi-official IRIB news agency quoted managing director at the state-owned National Iranian Oil Company (NIOC) Ahmad Qalebani as saying this week. These comments follow an earlier statement in which the NIOC chief said infrastructure development and drilling operations were “well underway” at the field – two drilling rigs are currently at work in the part of the field onshore Kish island (the bulk of the field is offshore). (CONTINUED - 785 WORDS)